Total Heart Rate Training

by Joe Friel, 2006

Rating of Perceived Extertion

1	extremely easy	restful breathing
2	very easy	can talk in complete sentences
3	easy	can talk in broken sentences
4	moderate	talking becomes difficult
5	somewhat hard	heavy breathing begins
6	moderately hard	deep breaths, talking is avoided
7	hard	deep and forceful breathing
8	very hard	labored, cannot talk
9	very, very hard	very labored breathing
10	extremely hard	gasping for air

Heart Rate Zones

zone	RPE	title	purpose	typical duration
1	1-2	active recovery	actively recover from previous hard training	limited only by sleep
2	3-4	aerobic threshold	build aerobic endurance	< 12 hours
3	5	tempo	challenge aerobic system	< 8 hours
4	6-7	sub-lactate threshold	improve acid tolerance for long endurance	< 3 hours
5A	8	lactate threshold	build LT performance	< 1 hour
5B	9	aerobic capacity	maximally challenge aerobic system	< 20 minutes
5C	10	anaerobic capacity	maximally challenge anaerobic system	< 2 minutes

Race Pacing

The "typical duration" column can help identify the correct zone for a race based on your expected time. Find a target heart rate and use this to pace yourself during the race. For example, you would try to stay near the border between zone 5A and 5B for a 5K, and completely inside zone 5A for a 10K.

How to determine Lactate Threshold

Two options:

30-Minute Test

Do this one by yourself. This is best done on a flat outdoor course.

• warm up for 10 or 15 minutes
• This is t=0. Start a 10-minute countdown timer. Immediately start running at the fastest pace that you can maintain steadily for 30 minutes.
• At t=10 minutes, start the heart rate monitor
• At t=30 minutes, stop the heart rate monitor
• The average heart rate is your LT.

Graded Exercise Test

Do this with on a treadmill with a friend to take down your data points.

• warm up for 10 to 15 minutes
• start the test at an easy pace
• After every minute, record your heart rate, pace, and RPE (rating of perceived exertion). Then increase the pace by 0.3mph.
• During this process, your friend listens for and records the time at which you cross the Ventilatory Threshold (VT), when you begin deep, forceful breathing.
• Keep going until you can no longer maintain the pace.

Here is the procedure for determining LT:

• If RPE hits 7 during the last five data points, that point is your LT
• If RPE 7 comes before the last five data points, but VT happens in the last five, go with VT.
• If RPE 7 and VT happened before the last five data points, take your LT to be the fifth from the last data point.

Running Training Zones

First determine your Lactate Threshold heart rate (LT). Here are the zones for running:

• Zone 1: < 85% of LT
• Zone 2: 85% - 90% of LT
• Zone 3: 90% - 95% of LT
• Zone 4: 95% - 100% of LT
• Zone 5A: 100% - 102% of LT
• Zone 5B: 102% - 106% of LT
• Zone 5C: > 106% of LT

Tempo Time Trial

• Find a fixed loop course that should take 6 - 12 minutes to complete.
• Your target heart rate is (LT - 11) to (LT - 9) zone.
• Warm up for 10 to 20 minutes.
• Once your heart rate reaches (LT-11), start your stopwatch.
• Keep running in the (LT - 11) to (LT - 9) zone until you come back to the same place.
• Record your time and average heart rate.
• Repeat this test very month or so, but keep the target zone the same, even if your LT changes.

Training Periods

period	length (weeks)	purpose	primary abilities	secondary abilities
Prep	2 - 6	begin training to train, general fitness with cross training	E	F
Base	6 - 12	develop basic abilities, introduce ME, increase training volume, general fitness	E, F, SS	ME
Build	3 - 9	develop advanced abilities, race-specific fitness, increase race-like intensity, slightly reduce volume, maintain basic abilities	ME, AE, P	E, F, SS
Peak	1 - 2	simulate portions of race, reduce volume significantly, increase rest, maintain fitness	ME, AE, P	E
Race	1 - 2	maintain race intensity, emphasize rest, focus on race	ME, AE, P	E
Transition	1 - 4	recover, rest, rejuvenate	E

Weekly Schedule for Beginners

period	monday	tuesday	wednesday	thursday	friday	saturday	sunday
Prep (2-6 wks)	short F1 (weights or rest)	med S1	long E1 (can x-train)	short F1 (weights or rest)	med E1 (can x-train)	med S1	long E1 (can x-train)
Base (6-12 wks)	short E1 (may rest)	med E1	long M1-M2	short E1 or S1 (maybe weights)	med E1 (may rest)	med S2	long E2
Build (3-9 wks)	short E1 (may rest)	med E2 or S2	med M2	med E2 or S2	short E1 (may rest)	long M1	long E2
Peak (1-2 wks)	short E1 (weights or rest)	long S1	med M4	short E1	med S1	med M4	long E1
Race on Sat	rest	long E2	med S1	rest	short S3	race	rest
Race on Sun	rest	long E2	med S2	med S1	rest	short S3	race
R&R (1-4 wks)	rest	short E1	short E1 or S1	med E1 or S1	med TEST	long M1 or E2	long M1 or E2

Weekly Hours

Columns show total annual hours available for training.

period	week	200	250	300	350	400
Prep	all	3.5	4	5	6	7
Base 1	1	4	5	6	7	8
	2	5	6	7	8.5	9.5
	3	5.5	6.5	8	9.5	10.5
	4	3	3.5	4	5	5.5
Base 2	1	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
	2	5	6.5	7.5	9	10
	3	5.5	7	8.5	10	11
	4	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
Base 3	1	4.5	5.5	7	8	9
	2	5	6.5	8	9.5	10.5
	3	6	7.5	9	10.5	11.5
	4	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
Build 1	1	5	6.5	8	9	10
	2	5	6.5	8	9	10
	3	5	6.5	8	9	10
	4	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
Build 2	1	5	6	7	8.8	9.5
	2	5	6	7	8.8	9.5
	3	5	6	7	8.8	9.5
	4	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
Peak	1	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5
	2	3.5	4	5	6	6.5
Race	all	4	5.5	6.5	7.5	8.5

Daily Hours

How much time to devote to long, medium, and short workouts based on weekly hours available.

weekly hours	long	long	med	med	med	short	short
3	1	0.75	0.75	0.5	0	0	0
3.5	1.5	0.75	0.75	0.5	0	0	0
4	1.5	1	1	0.5	0	0	0
4.5	1.5	1	0.75	0.75	0.5	0	0
5	1.5	1	1	1	0.5	0	0
5.5	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75	0	0
6	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75	0.5	0
6.5	1.5	1.25	1	1	1	0.75	0
7	1.5	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75	0
7.5	2	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75	0
8	2	1.5	1.25	1.25	1	1	0
8.5	2	1.5	1.25	1.25	1	1	0.5
9	2	1.5	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75
9.5	2.5	1.5	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75
10	2.5	2	1.5	1.25	1	1	0.75

List of Workouts

code	name	description
E1A	recovery	easy zone 1
E1B	recovery cross train	x-train with rpe < 4
E2A	low aerobic threshold	warm up, then lower half of zone 2
E2B	high aerobic threshold	warm up, then upper half of zone 2
F1A	weight training	lift weights to mimic movements of running
F2A	cross train force	x-train between zone 1 and zone 3
F2B	sport-specific force	use resistance such as hills, low cadence, max zone 4
S1A	basic skills	sprint drills focusing on form at slow pace
S2A	advanced skills	sprint drills focusing on form at normal pace
S3A	warm-up skill	rehearse warm-up you will use before next race, including several seconds to minutes at goal heart rate
M1A	tempo intervals	warm up, then intervals 12-20 minutes with recovery 1/4 the time
M1B	steady temp	warm up, then steady running in zone 3
M2A	cruise intervals	warm up from zone 1 to 3, then intervals 6-12 minutes long in zone 4 with recovery 1/4 the time, cool down zone 1
M2B	cruise steady state	warm up from zone 1 to 3, then run in zone 4, cool down zone 1
M3A	threshold cruise intervals	same as M2A, but build into zone 5A
M3B	threshold cruise steady state	same as M2B, but build into zone 5A
M4A	short race simulation	warm up to zone 3, then simulate a portion of the race at proper intensity
M4B	long race simulation	same as M4A, but duration can be up to half of targeted race duration
M4C	criss-cross	warm up to zone 3, then run between zone 4 and 5A as you feel, cool down zone 1